Nuns among the victims of Beijing floods

August 7, 2012

Around 40 nuns of the St. Joseph’s Congregation in Beijing are among thousands displaced after the heaviest rainstorms in six decades struck the region in July, severely damaging their convent. At least 79 people were killed and nearly 57,000 people were evacuated, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. The worst-hit areas were in the rural hilly outskirts of the city. The nuns evacuated from their convent in downtown Beijing to the diocesan major seminary, but they are having to look for a new place before the seminary’s semester begins in mid August. "It’s very difficult to find somewhere that can accommodate about 40 people to live together," said Sister Mary Magdalene Dong Xiaohong, the superior general.

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